The present invention relates to a method and system for providing navigation features and functions, and more particularly to a method and system for collecting images and providing navigation features using the images.
Vehicle navigation systems are available that provide end users with various navigation-related functions and features. For example, some navigation systems are able to determine an optimum route to travel along a road network from an origin location to a destination location in a geographic region. Using input from the end user, and optionally from equipment that can determine the end user's location (such as a GPS system), the navigation system can examine various potential routes between the origin and destination locations to determine the optimum route. The navigation system may then provide the end user with information about the optimum route in the form of guidance that identifies the driving maneuvers for the end user to travel from the origin to the destination location. The guidance may take the form of visual and/or audio instructions that are provided along the way as the end user is traveling the route. Some navigation systems are able to show detailed maps on displays outlining the route, the types of maneuvers to be taken at various locations along the route, locations of certain types of features, and so on.
In order to provide these and other navigation-related functions and features, navigation systems use geographic data. The geographic data may be in the form of one or more geographic databases that include data representing physical features in the geographic region. The geographic database includes information about the represented geographic features, such as the positions of the roads, speed limits along portions of roads, address ranges along the road portions, turn restrictions at intersections of roads, direction restrictions, such as one-way streets, and so on. Additionally, the geographic data may include points of interest, such as restaurants, hotels, airports, gas stations, stadiums, police stations, and so on.
Although navigation systems provide many important features, there continues to be room for new features and improvements. One area in which there is room for improvement relates to providing improved guidance for following the route. In some situations, additional guidance and orientation information would be helpful when following the route. For example, some areas may be difficult for a user of a navigation system to traverse because of the many road segments intersecting in the area and the many different turn options available to travel. Additionally, pedestrians may find additional guidance and orientation information helpful when traversing a route because pedestrians have a greater degree of freedom of motion and may become more frequently confused as to their orientation to destination.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to have a way to collect and provide images that may be used to provide improved navigation-related functions and features.